the imperfect tense (l'imparfait) is a past tense used when the action was continuous
quand j'etais jeune, je jouais avec mes amis chaque jour
when i was young, i played with my friends every day
as we can see here, the action of playing wasnt a one-time event
| verb | je | tu | il/elle/on | nous | vous | ils/elles |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| jouer | jouais | jouais | jouait | jouions | jouiez | jouient |